The present invention relates to a system of solids separation, and more particularly to a system for separating sand and silt from well bore water used in the oil and gas industry.
Presently, there exist an estimated 5000 oil and gas production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico alone. All of these facilities employ one type or another of solids separation equipment. Such equipment is necessary to separate each fraction of the produced fuel and gases so that they may be directed in a clean state to their particular means of storage, transportation and ultimate sale. For wells, which produce sand and solids, the separation equipment acts as a collection mechanism for the solids. During drilling or production operation, particles of sand and silt are brought to the surface with the oil gas and produced water. The sand and silt accumulate in the separation equipment creating numerous problems to the equipment owners, including reduction in the separation retention time by displacing gas or volume, blocking free passage of fluids thereby affecting the separation efficiency and carrying over sand to other valves and equipment, thereby increasing wear of the equipment through abrasion and the like.
Sand removal has been an everyday maintenance activity of oil and gas producers since oil production began. However, even today the most common means for removing accumulated sand is to shut in the wells and/or divert the production stream to another separator that can handle the separation while the vessels are opened and cleaned in a conventional process. A conventional process usually involves the use of hydrocyclones and vibrating screen shakers. The conventional process exposes the workers to potentially dangerous conditions including exposure to Benzine, a known carcinogen, and to oxygen deficient atmosphere. Additionally, the explosive environment of the hydrocarbon separation causes the threat of combustion by a simple static spark. Even further, the cost of shutting the well production can reduce the profit of the well owner by millions of dollars a day.
In the 90's, technology was developed to approach the sand removal problem remotely. This technology is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,512 issued on Mar. 2, 1999. That technology, while offering great advances over conventional then-current technology has certain disadvantages as it allows removal of approximately 65% of the solids.
The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with the prior art and provision of a solid separation system which can remove substantially all sand and solids from the vessel used in the oil and gas industry under their normal operating conditions.